Crikey, OUYA raises almost $8.6 million, that's $7.65 million more than needed

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And so, the Kickstarter funding phase of OUYA's life is over, now the hard work begins. Mind you, the team behind the open source, Android-based console project will certainly have enough cash to ensure that it's as good as it possibly can be - the closing amount of funding pledged came in at $8,596,475 (£5.5 million).

Considering that the OUYA team set its goal at $950,000, that's a staggering $7,646,475 more than it would have taken to bring the new games machine to market.

In total, 63,416 people backed the project, with a majority each pledging $99 or more. They will each get one of the consoles on its release in March 2013 and more, depending on the level of their support.

"We did it gang! Together," said the post by the official OUYA Twitter account (@playouya). The new dedicated website, where you will be able to find out more information in coming months, also went live as soon as the Kickstarter funding closed. You can find it at ouya.tv.

As well as the money, Namco Bandai has also put the OUYA team in celebratory mood. Along with XBMC and cloud gaming service OnLive, it has also confirmed it is in talks with the console firm to support the machine on its launch next year.

"Namco Bandai Games and OUYA are currently in active discussions to bring some of the world's biggest gaming properties to the exciting new open gaming platform," it said.

"Namco Bandai brings with it a rich history of iconic gaming franchises, from classics like Pac-man and Galaga, to seminal franchises like Tekken and Ridge Racer, and we're excited to explore how we can work with OUYA to bring some great titles to the forthcoming console."

We suspect Namco Bandai won't be the last games company to want to jump on board either.

UPDATE: If you didn't get in on the crowd-sourced funding phase, you can now pre-order an OUYA games console. It'll cost $119 (£76) for international customers (including $20 shipping fees), $109 for US (including $10 shipping), and the delivery date has now been set for April 2013 (rather than the originally proposed March).

Your $119/$109 covers one console and one controller, but you can also buy packs with two or four controllers bundled for an extra $30 and $90 respectively.

Did you fund OUYA on Kickstarter? Are you looking forward to seeing the console? Let us know in the comments below...